What can we say..Vietnam was full of high points and extreme low points. Our story begins in Vietianne in Laos, we purchased a bus ticket 'VIP' style for 18 dollars to head for Danang, central Vietnam. The tuk tuk arrived late to pick us up from our horrible hostel (matresses on the floor and yes i got bug bitten badly..so horrible, ill never forgive terry for making me stay there!!) and then the tuk tuk decides to stop and chat to his friends for 5 minutes and have a cigarette.
So we made it late for the bus and got there to find out that it had been overbooked and all the Laos people had taken up every seat. After waiting for 2 hours we were shoved on a bus labelled 'VINH' (North of Vietnam) and told 'Danang..yes Danang'. 6 Westerners on the whole bus. about 50 Vietmanese people sitting everywhere, even in the aisles.. for 24 hours with a 6 hour random stop over at the side of a road. The people were smoking in our faces, playing music from their newly discovered mobile phones very loudly and no one got any sleep due to the -6c weather and the windows that didnt shut!! It took 4 hours to get through immigration as they ripped all the bags open and it was ur first expereince of really cold weather...if you put your hand out in front of you you couldnt see your fingers the fog was that bad.
Once in Vietnam we were all so mad and hated anyone Vietmanese, we generalised the whole country as you do when you've not slept and had people laughing in your face. We didnt have a clue where we were and then the bus stops and chucks us off. No one speaks any English so we wait by the side of the road and basically hitchhike a mini van down. A man jumps off and says 'Hue' a town about 3 hours from Danang and we have to accept. We pay another 13 dollars for this pleasure (now playing Vietmanese Karaoke at full volume) to only be dropped off again in god no's where to be confronted by a group of lads asking for 5 dollars. As you can imagine we were pretty angry by now and just jumped on this local bus and they took us to Danang.
We then had to get a motorbike at 12pm at night after about 34 hours of travelling to Hoi An for another 6 dollars. Arhhh so frustrating!! It seems in this country they see a foreigner and triple the price, always out to get more money.
Fortunately Hoi An was beautiful..right on the beach and full of awesome tailor shops that make you clothes over night. Vietnam is very different to Laos or Cambodia with a slghtly more chinese feel to it. The pictures we have are brilliant. We had loads of clothes made, i had 2 dresses made for me in silk for 6 pounds each and a suit for 15 pounds tailored to fit! And Tel had a tux made (Ready for Hayley and Chris's wedding in May) for 25 pounds, tailored and hand made, its beautiful!! We spent about 5 days exploring this town and then flew to Hanoi. Hanoi is a maze of a town but with a great exciting feel to it. It is a lot more industralised than Laos so actually has tarmac'd streets and traffic lights (not that anyone uses them, you risk your life everytime you cross the right) We visited Halong bay, a UNESCO heritage site and did a city tour with a lovely Vietmanese guy who just wanted to help us out for the day. We took a bus to the airport for 15p..a 40 minute journey and catched a flight to Bangkok. Off to Koh Jum tonight..an island with no electricity, just hammocks, treehouses and the beach..paradise.
So we made it late for the bus and got there to find out that it had been overbooked and all the Laos people had taken up every seat. After waiting for 2 hours we were shoved on a bus labelled 'VINH' (North of Vietnam) and told 'Danang..yes Danang'. 6 Westerners on the whole bus. about 50 Vietmanese people sitting everywhere, even in the aisles.. for 24 hours with a 6 hour random stop over at the side of a road. The people were smoking in our faces, playing music from their newly discovered mobile phones very loudly and no one got any sleep due to the -6c weather and the windows that didnt shut!! It took 4 hours to get through immigration as they ripped all the bags open and it was ur first expereince of really cold weather...if you put your hand out in front of you you couldnt see your fingers the fog was that bad.
Once in Vietnam we were all so mad and hated anyone Vietmanese, we generalised the whole country as you do when you've not slept and had people laughing in your face. We didnt have a clue where we were and then the bus stops and chucks us off. No one speaks any English so we wait by the side of the road and basically hitchhike a mini van down. A man jumps off and says 'Hue' a town about 3 hours from Danang and we have to accept. We pay another 13 dollars for this pleasure (now playing Vietmanese Karaoke at full volume) to only be dropped off again in god no's where to be confronted by a group of lads asking for 5 dollars. As you can imagine we were pretty angry by now and just jumped on this local bus and they took us to Danang.
We then had to get a motorbike at 12pm at night after about 34 hours of travelling to Hoi An for another 6 dollars. Arhhh so frustrating!! It seems in this country they see a foreigner and triple the price, always out to get more money.
Fortunately Hoi An was beautiful..right on the beach and full of awesome tailor shops that make you clothes over night. Vietnam is very different to Laos or Cambodia with a slghtly more chinese feel to it. The pictures we have are brilliant. We had loads of clothes made, i had 2 dresses made for me in silk for 6 pounds each and a suit for 15 pounds tailored to fit! And Tel had a tux made (Ready for Hayley and Chris's wedding in May) for 25 pounds, tailored and hand made, its beautiful!! We spent about 5 days exploring this town and then flew to Hanoi. Hanoi is a maze of a town but with a great exciting feel to it. It is a lot more industralised than Laos so actually has tarmac'd streets and traffic lights (not that anyone uses them, you risk your life everytime you cross the right) We visited Halong bay, a UNESCO heritage site and did a city tour with a lovely Vietmanese guy who just wanted to help us out for the day. We took a bus to the airport for 15p..a 40 minute journey and catched a flight to Bangkok. Off to Koh Jum tonight..an island with no electricity, just hammocks, treehouses and the beach..paradise.
1 comment:
I came home a week ago from Vietnam, I had the same shit happening; people ripping you off left and right and that was horrible. When I just came back I had little good things to say about Vietnam but I'm a bit more mellow now... lots of people do make only 50 to 100 usd a month and apparently it's quite difficult to be poor and honest. Also, the seemingly endless war has left so many traces visible (we saw loads of people with no arms and legs plus the war remnants museum in Saigon where you could see preserved babies who were deformed by agent Orange) and mental. So I don't know, out here we're not positive towards the German either and that war was much shorter...
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